Adaptation Agriculture online course with Joseph Lofthouse

Jan 18, 2022 19:16:55

More fun, less work, more delicious!

Joseph Lofthouse and I collaborated over the last year on building an online course to teach Landrace Gardening. It is geared towards people like you who want to enjoy tastier garden produce, with less work, don't want to keep buying things, become seed independent, and and and...

It's designed to get you started right now, give you knowledge and confidence, and then support throughout the year with monthly zoom calls and a community.
Lots of videos of Joseph in his garden, in my garden, plant footage, all the nitty gritty of various crops. Still evolving with new footage.

We also have interviews with other landrace gardeners and their experiences. Lots of community landrace discussion, support and seed trading evolving.

Here is a little intro video.
https://youtu.be/LXoBj9dr0Vo

ModernLandraces.com

(there is still a free option if you click on the course page and fill out the scholarship form at the bottom).
And there's a free shorter version if you're not ready to commit.

Jan 20, 2022 14:50:30

Thank you for sharing Joseph's video.

Apr 19, 2022 12:56:37

I've been working my way through the landrace section of this course in the last week or so, and I just have to promote this course! I recommend any permaculture people to get into it. It's definitely a very important method; and Julia also has Dr. James White on there teaching about endophytic microbes' relationships with plants. I haven't started that one, but I really look forward to it as well, since it relates to helping plants be more health and adapt to our local environment. She's adding another course soon on indigenous faming methods.

I'm planning to start with potatoes this year, because I want potatoes that are more resistant to potato beetles and that are colorful and full of nutrients. I will also do some breeding and selection with cucumbers, melons and squash since they are easy and I could definitely use varieties that keep on growing in site of cucumber beetles. I'm also especially wanting to breed for nutrient density. I will try also sweet corn, spinach, peppers and tomatoes. We have already found some interesting tomatoes from saving seeds previously so I will try to select the best of those in terms of taste, blight resistance and crack resistance.

The best part of the course is the interaction with others who are working at breeding adapted varieties, and the seed swapping. Everybody is so generous with sharing seeds in this course. There are swaps for specific traits such as blight resistance or certain types potato seeds, etc. That's true potato seeds, by the way, not your ordinary clones! Sound exciting? I hope you'll get in there, and you might turn out to become one of the pioneers that are working on projects such as growing garlic and sweetpotatoes from true seed again!

Nov 25, 2023 14:15:26

Donors contributed enough to cover infrastructure expenses, therefore Going To Seed currently offers the course for free.

Hosted at:
https://goingtoseed.org/products/1406309

Jan 17, 2024 22:08:56

Thanks for putting this out Julia and Joseph! Excellent resource. Your generosity is super appreciated.

I'm new to the topic of "Landraces" and "Grexes." Its definitely taking me to a new level of insight about plant breeding and selection. Im loving how well organized this course is. It is very easy to follow in little bits at at a time depending on my own pace and level of available attention span.

I too was getting very caught up in wanting to preserve heirloom varieties, and actually still haven't lost that desire, although now there is a new appreciation for a more intentional and conscious approach to hybrids.

The demonization of hybrids got drilled into me with growing Taro. In Hawaiian culture it is considered a very sacred plant. There are hundreds of named varieties that have disappeared over the last couple hundred years, and many more on on the verge of being lost. While it is possible to breed Taro from seed the existing heritage varieties have primarily been perpetuated clonally via stem cuttings, or corm sprouts. Its a controversial topic, as many heritage growers are working very hard to protect the pure cultivars from disappearing. The argument is that hybrids can end up looking almost identical to the heirlooms, and when they get haphazardly spread around they easily get mixed in with the heritage varieties, and begin displacing them. For somebody who is interested in perpetuating the heritage varieties it is very difficult to find trusted sources of plant material.

For me this has become a very difficult path to navigate. On one hand I really want to help preserve and protect heritage cultivars, while on the other I want to work with natural cycles, adaptations, and evolution.

I guess a solution is follow both paths, but very carefully. Intentionally.

Jan 18, 2024 04:01:14

I found all three courses at Going To Seed to be quite valuable!

Jan 22, 2024 19:11:39

I'm currently in the middle of one course but my limited internet bandwidth is making if difficult. Really opening my eyes and learning so much.

A wop bop a lu bob a womp bam boom. Tutti frutti ad:

The new kickstarter is now live!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/garden-cards

Oehler complete underground house and green house set